Tseng Wen-ding’s outstanding all-around performances, racking up 23 points, 11 rebounds, 3.5 assists, three steals and four blocked shots per contest in the two games played last week, landed him this week’s Super Basketball League Player of the Week award.
The all-star center for the Yulon Luxgens more than made up for the absence of former team icon Chen “Airman” Hsin-an - who left to join China’s Chinese Basketball Association late last year - by playing all 40 minutes in both games last week.
“I guess I got it [the player of the week award] because of some sympathy points from members of the voting press,” Tseng jokingly said after learning of his success.
His 46 combined points accounted for nearly a third of the Luxgens’ total offense last week, propelling them to a surprising 3-1 record, good enough for a tie with Pure Youth Construction and the Dacin Tigers at the top of the standings.
Tseng and his Yulon teammates will have a chance to extend their winning streak to four straight with the two matches scheduled for this week: tonight’s contest against the Taiwan Mobile Leopards and tomorrow’s showdown with the Tigers at the Miaoli County Sports Complex.
The Dinos are clear favorites in the game against Taiwan Mobile, who have suffered two straight defeats and are still trying to figure out how to best use the talent of newcomer Antonio Grant who spent less than 20 minutes on the court in the two games he has played so far.
As for tomorrow’s contest against the Tigers, it will be an uphill battle all the way for the Luxgens simply because their opponents will have had more rest being idle tonight, not to mention the momentum that they have built with back-to-back wins over worthy opponents last week. The Tigers’ ability to contain Tseng — the main offensive threat that the Luxgens have this year — will be the deciding factor.
TONIGHT’S GAMES
Besides the Luxgen-Leopard game scheduled for 6pm, Bank of Taiwan take on Kinmen Liquor in what should be a relatively easy win for the latter with the bankers being winless after four games.
Shawn “the Hawk” Hawkins should be confident after Sunday’s 38-point performance against the Leopards as the bankers cannot afford to double-team the US import too often since that would mean freeing up the middle for forward Cheng Ren-wei who has averaged 20 points per game in his last three contests.
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